You log into your e-mail program and compose an e-mail that you would like to send. You have finished the e-mail and click on the send button, after which it is sent without an error message.
However, when you want to receive an e-mail, you get nothing or you even get an error message saying that it cannot retrieve any e-mail from the IMAP or POP3 server.
Why is this and what can you do to solve it?
Checking your internet connection
First, it’s important to check your internet connection. It could be that your internet connection is not stable or has a simple malfunction that prevents a stable connection to the IMAP or POP3 email server.
Check allestoringen.nl if there is a known malfunction with your current internet provider.
A test you can perform is to surf to the website of your internet provider. If this works, there is a good chance that your internet connection is fine.
The only thing that could still be going on is that you are blocked in the firewall of the IMAP or POP3 server. To rule this out after you’ve gone through all the steps below, I recommend contacting your internet provider.
DNS domain name link
What can also happen is that your domain name is not properly or only half linked to the hosting package or e-mail server.
If you have just purchased your domain name, then it can take up to 24 hours before your domain name is known on the Internet and is in all DNS servers. So if you have not registered it, it is true that the domain name is not yet working and you will have to wait a few more hours.
To check if your domain name is properly linked to your hosting or email provider, I advise you to go to nslookup.io. Here you enter the domain name and click on “Find DNS records”.
You will go to a new page where you will see all DNS types and values. It is important to look at the section MX records.
MX records are the DNS records that tell you to which e-mail server your e-mail has to be sent.
If your domain name is linked correctly, you will see the email servers of your hosting or email provider.
Test the webmail
What is also a good test is to log into your webmail and check if it works completely, or if you experience the same problems as you have in your email client.
The webmail is located directly on the e-mail server of your hosting or e-mail provider. Suppose you log on to the webmail but immediately get an error message, or cannot receive email there either, then it is almost certain that the fault lies with your hosting or email provider. Especially if the domain name is properly linked, then the only remaining option is that something is not quite right with the provider or that there is a malfunction.
The internet address of the webmail often comes with your e-mail hosting package. If you do not have this at hand, you can check this page: How do I log in to the webmail? .
If it doesn’t work, I recommend you still contact your email hosting provider for advice.
Check email settings
Suppose the webmail works fine, but your local e-mail client still does not. In that case I recommend you to check all your e-mail settings again and to see if they are set as they recommend.
We also explained this in the following guide:
If you want to know what the recommended email settings of your provider are, you can take a look at the following guide. There we have listed the most common providers and all their email settings:
Email mailbox full
What can also be an issue if you checked everything above is that your email mailbox is full. This means that new e-mails can no longer be saved in your e-mail account and therefore you will no longer receive e-mails.
In this case I advise you to log in to your customer account of your internet or hosting provider and go to E-mailaccounts. Often you will see your e-mail account there after which you can adjust the quota / storage space and thus increase.
Sometimes this is not possible and you have to contact the provider, or even upgrade your package or email address to a higher package so it can be done.
Malfunctions or maintenance email provider
If all of the above has not worked, then I recommend you still on allestoringen.nl to see if there is a failure or that more people also suffer from this.
Of course, in this case it is also wise to contact your hosting or e-mail provider and explain your problem. Often they have good tools that allow them to quickly check what is wrong with you and thus apply or pass on the correct solution.